Prosecutor: Student with guns in dorm studied mass shootings

This undated mugshot provided by the High Point Police Department shows Paul A. Steber, 19, a North Carolina university student who has been charged with two counts of having a gun on campus and a charge of making threats of mass violence. A High Point Police Department statement said Steber was arrested after officers responded Tuesday, August 27, 2019 to reports of a student with two firearms and ammunition in a High Point University dorm. (High Point Police Department via AP)

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina university student arrested with guns and ammunition in his dorm room had studied mass shootings and was making plans to kill his roommate and himself if he didn’t get into a fraternity, a prosecutor said Wednesday.

Paul A. Steber, a 19-year-old freshman from Boston attending High Point University, was arrested Tuesday and charged with two felony counts of having a gun on campus and a charge of making threats of mass violence, the High Point Police Department said in a statement.

No one was hurt and there was no immediate threat to others on campus, the university said in a separate statement. Another student turned Steber in, the statement said.

“This incident illustrates the importance of the public reporting suspicious activity to authorities,” the police statement said. “Information from the public is often the critical first step in preventing acts of mass violence.”

Steber had been watching videos to learn how to carry out a mass shooting, Assistant District Attorney Lori Wickline said in court.

“He told officers that he definitely had a plan, something that he had been thinking about since Christmas of last year,” she said.

She later added: “And he had been recently watching videos of the Charleston mass shooting down in South Carolina and other mass shootings so that he could learn what to do and what not to do.”

He had bought the guns within the past week and planned to shoot himself and his roommate if Steber didn’t get into a fraternity and the roommate did, Wickline said. She said it wasn’t clear if he bought the guns legally.

She said Steber didn’t appear to have any criminal history.

The court set his bond on the firearms charges at $2 million.

His father, who came down from Massachusetts, sat in court for the brief hearing where Steber appeared via video link.

“This is any parent’s worst nightmare,” defense attorney John Bryson said in court. “He’s obviously very concerned about his son.”

Bryson declined further comment in an email after the hearing.

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